to feel intimidated by the local traveller camp?

[youarekidding]

To start with I am not intending to assume they aren't nice people - I am not someone to judge anyone for their life choices.

In our town we have a leisure centre, with small and large pool, gym and other classes running. It is set on council property where there is an expansive grassy area outside of it, 4 public tennis courts, a half pipe and a park. It has a cycle route through it as a short cut and pathways around it. The council also plant lovely dafodil/ flower 'displays' on it yearly. Because of it's location it's used frequently by school children from local schools on their way home, for people as a meeting point for picnics/ outdoor fun etc and by locals for dog walking, runners as it does a circuit etc. Also many families use it after swimming.

Just under 2 weeks ago some travellers moved onto the site. This happened about 5/6 years ago and a barrier was put across the car park for night time but they moved in during the day, bumping up the curb and driving through the dafoldil/ flower area and across the grass.

At the time the weather was 25°c+ and so they have pitched some of their caravans under the trees.

News of this travelled fast and many people who had planned half term meets began to suggest other places. I was a bit saying it's a large area 6-8 caravans shouldn't affect it. DS (7) swims at the leisure centre and I saw the site when taking him - this was after hearing about it and plans changing etc. It does overtake one of the grassy areas, especially when you add in all the work trucks and the tractor!

The problem is is where they've set up, and by using some of the trees they have their camp either side of one stretch of the path - the bit near the park that also feeds the local estate to the leisure centre if your walking.

So far there does not seem to be too much mess created by this - although the council have had to cut the grass around them and the rain today means I reckon the grass will get very churned up with driving on.

Anyway the location of their camp means that when walking along this stretch of path it feels very intimidating and as if your walking through somebody elses garden iyswim? This has caused many people, and increasingly more by the looks of it to avoid this area.

AIBU (and others) to feel this way?

I will add when I walked through a week ago they basically ignored us but one families very cute DD smiled, waved and said hello so we said hello back.

I'm pretty laid back but trashing flowerbeds to camp in a park would puss even me off !!

Tho in there defence councils should provide more places for them to go, they can't ave it both ways.

We have a travelling community who come to the town I live in regularly. Personally I have never had any issue with them as they tend to keep themselves to themselves in my knowledge and any dealings I have had have been friendly and normal.

However, when they leave the mess left behind is shocking. Apparently crime goes up in the area when they are here bla bla but I can't say I have ever heard of anything other than rumour.

YANBU though OP I know what you mean - it does feel like you are walking over someones back garden when you walk through not just a field!

It's public land, if people choose to camp on it then they can't really complain when the public walk past their caravans / trailers.
I took that attitude when a gang of teenage lads started hanging around the cut-through from the main road onto my estate. I could have felt intimidated & walked the long way home; but i continued to use the cut-through as usual because i have the right to do so (& pay enough for council tax to maintain the cut-through etc etc).
I just smiled & said hi to the lads as i walked past (even though i felt scared of being mugged tbh), & it was fine because they were polite back & actually moved out of my way.
If they had been rude or intimidating instead, then i would have been angry & upset obviously & called the Police or whatever.

My point is that people who hang out in places which are public should be polite to the public, & the public should not stop using those places.

There's a large group of Irish Travellers who've camped in a privately owned field every summer for a few months since 2004. Everyone makes a huge fuss about those who camp illegally on public land, but these Travellers are forgotten about by even the landowners.
Most crime here is committed by local criminals / addicts.

I can only speak from personal experience but for years we had travellers settling on land here and every time they did, the local parade of shops had to ban lots of their kids for stealing, the local pub had to draft security in to deal with the fighting and intimidation and despite warnings in the local paper, vulnerable people were still ripped off for driveways and building works.

It happened 2 or 3 times a year but every single time it was the same.

I live in a London Borough with a fairly high crime rate anyway, but the traveller 'visits' saw it shoot through the roof.

Since the land has been secured (at great expense) the problem is now the neighbouring Borough's problem.

I think the group of Travellers that settle on the privately-owned field nearby each summer are careful not to piss people off round here because they are basically onto a good thing: the field is owners by developers but has been unused for over 10 years. It's not near any housing so not many people even realise they are there - even though there are lots of trailers.
There was also a group last summer who parked on part of a local car park (annoying), but were tidy & pleasant.
BUT there are other groups of Travellers who park on local council-owned land here in the summer, cause lots of damage & don't care... they are the groups who give the others a bad name.

YANBU, they can be very intimidating. We have travellers on the playing fields at the back of us, if anyone goes near they get chased by a pack of dogs (which I can hear barking and howling half the night) and an old lady I know was walking past with her little dog was upset by being told to "eff off or we'll do your dog in". Local children who have gone up there to play football have been threatened as well. They seem to be going out of their way to make it a no-go area for locals.

Thanks for the replies.

The travellers visiting this park seemed generally polite, did not threaten anyone that I know of, had small children who didn't wander off causing damage and didn't leave a huge mess when they left.

They genuinely just came did there thing and then moved on. As I said the day I walked through I didn't speak to them nor them me. The little DD smiled and said hello and I said hello back and smiled at her mum. Mum kind of smiled back but not in any threatening or even friendly way - more of a token gesture.

I still cannot work out why I felt I was walking through 'their' garden and felt intimidated but latara has explained it perfectly - I would likely feel the same if it was a group of lads, hoodies up etc.